Fabregas matured after Rovers row, says Wenger

There will be no more tantrums from Cesc Fabregas according to his manager Arsène Wenger as the Arsenal midfielder takes on a Blackburn team tonight who caused him to lose his temper last season.

Fabregas famously lost his cool with Mark Hughes in last February's FA Cup fifth round when Blackburn earned a draw at the Emirates and beat Arsenal in the replay. Fabregas confronted the Rovers manager on the touchline and asked him how, having played for Barcelona, he could have set up a team to play, in the Spaniard's view, so negatively. Fabregas later apologised.

With Manchester United's defeat yesterday, Arsenal have the opportunity to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League table to five points. With 12 goals this season, Fabregas has matured, Wenger said. "Cesc is committed and you always like your players to have a winning attitude," he said. "Sometimes it can go a little bit over the top but Cesc has behaved remarkably well this season – I cannot remember one incident.

"There was maybe a stage, for about six months, where he went a bit the wrong way but he corrected that very well, without any special management from me. He is so intelligent that he realised that is not the way he wanted to go. If I feel that the players aren't managing to do it themselves then I will help them to do it. But in his case, there was no need. He apologised [to Hughes] and from then on there have been no problems with him.

"Maybe the outrage in the media prompted that but talented, great players always have a fair assessment of their performances and their behaviour. They go home and they ask themselves: 'What did I do right today and what did I do wrong today?'

"The team as a whole has a personality and a mental toughness from the beginning of the season. We were confronted with major problems and have shown resilience on every occasion."